It Appears Mark Wahlberg Almost Played Green Lantern In ‘Batman V Superman’!

Not sure what sounds weirder, Tom Cruise or Mark Wahlberg as Green Lantern. While it’s rumored that Cruise may play GL Hal Jordan in an upcoming film, evidence now indicates that Wahlberg came close to playing him a few years ago.

Mark Wahlberg seems to have disclosed that he was intended to play Green Lantern in Zack Snyder’s ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’. Wahlberg posted a photo on Instagram striking a powerful pose with a message to LeBron James, congratulating him on his move to the LA Lakers.

However, while Wahlberg doesn’t give any context for this photo, in the background, there are pictures of the entire cast of ‘Batman V Superman’… including Wahlberg. Revenge of the Fans Editor-in-Chief Mario-Francisco Robles noticed and reposted the same photo with the pictures circled and a note that former Warner Brothers chief Charles Roven had championed Wahlberg’s inclusion in the fledgling DC Universe.

Psst! Bochinche Alert:

If Roven had his way, Marky Mark would’ve recited the oath. But his days of influence in the DCU are over, so that isn’t an option anymore.#GLCpic.twitter.com/tAiRibnZ6Z

‘Batman V Superman’ was casting in 2013 and began filming in 2014. As Mansoor Mithaiwala of Screen Rant pointed out, judging by Wahlberg’s long hair, this picture was most likely taken in summer 2014, when he was filming ‘Transformers: The Last Knight’ in which his character also had hair longer than Wahlberg normally sports. (Although, Mithaiwala mistakenly refers to ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’.)

‘Transformers: The Last Knight’

There were ‘Green Lantern’ rumors regarding both ‘Batman V Superman’ and ‘Justice League’. In ‘Man of Steel’, Christina Wren played “Major Carrie Farris” a variation on Carol Farris, Hal Jordan’s sometimes girlfriend and occasional Star Sapphire, and of course, in ‘Justice League’ there was a brief appearance by ancient alien GL Yalan Gur.

Had Wahlberg appeared, even in a cameo, in ‘Batman V Superman’, he would have joined the returning Henry Cavill who had previously played Superman in ‘Man of Steel’, and newcomers Ben Affleck as Batman, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, and Jason Momoa as Aquaman.

Wahlberg is an international star and that seems to have been Warner Brothers’ strategy when casting their movies at that point, which explains the controversial casting of Affleck, as well as the similar casting of Will Smith in ‘Suicide Squad’. They took a chance on lesser known actors for the other parts, but ‘Green Lantern’ had been played by Ryan Reynolds in the 2011 flop ‘Green Lantern’, which predated the current DC film universe. Maybe Warner Brothers felt that this character needed the extra bump from having a big name portray him in the revised films.

At any rate, there hasn’t been much activity when it comes to WB’s planned ‘Green Lantern Corps’, with the Tom Cruise rumor being the most recent. Presumably, Wahlberg has moved on. His latest movie ‘Mile 22’ opened this weekend.

Would you have liked to have seen Wahlberg as Hal Jordan? Would you prefer him over Cruise? Or is there someone else you’d like to see in the role?

(Also, what were they thinking? If Mark Wahlberg is any GL, it’s Guy Gardner!)

Jax Motes

Jax's earliest memory is of watching 'Batman,' followed shortly by a memory of playing Batman & Robin with a friend, which entailed running outside in just their underwear and towels as capes. When adults told them they couldn't run around outside in their underwear, both boys promptly whipped theirs off and ran around in just capes.